A new Community Service Society poll found that 83% of city residents (up from 74% last year) strongly favor a law requiring minimum paid sick days for workers.

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Across party lines, the poll found, New Yorkers favor paid sick days with seven out of 10 Democrats strongly in favor, and 87% in favor overall.

Something that is bound to make Quinn — considered the early favorite for the Democratic nomination — think hard about her stance is that, according to the poll, New Yorkers across party lines would punish a mayoral candidate who opposed required paid sick days and strongly reward them for supporting it.

These findings are, of course, music to the ears of Quinn's rivals, all of whom favor passage of the Paid Sick Days Act languishing in the Council.

"How on Earth has this bill not been brought to the floor?," Public Advocate Bill de Blasio asked last week. "It's not acceptable. It's not democracy," said the would-be mayor.

Once you find out that the bill has overwhelming support in the Council and among labor unions, de Blasio's question makes a lot of sense.

Yet, opposing business interests make it sound as if passing the very modest act would bring the capitalist system down.

Their argument, one that Quinn backs, is that the Paid Sick Days Act is a job killer. Some of those business interests are also some of Quinn's most important financial supporters.

"In the economic environment we are in, small businesses are hanging on by a thread in many cases. And I think, although this goal is laudable, it's not one that I can support," Quinn said in an email.

But in the words of Vice President Joe Biden. that's a bunch of 'malarkey.'

In its latest, much watered down, incarnation the bill would require businesses to give employees only five sick days a year and allow workers to swap shifts instead of taking a sick day. It also excludes seasonal workers. No danger to capitalism here.

The truth is that currently, in our rich city, the situation is shameful: More than 1 million employees — many of whom work in food service, retail and health care — don't get paid if they call in sick. Even worse, they can be fired.

The statistics are appalling. Nearly 64% of low-income workers lacked paid sick time in 2011, according to CSS. For Hispanics, that number jumped to 76%. This situation represents a risk not only to the financial security and health of workers, but also to their families and the public. Many of these employees work in food services and are public school parents.

Not surprisingly, the CSS poll found that 85% of Latino Democrats and 87% of black Democrats are more likely to vote for a candidate who support requiring employers to provide paid sick days.

Guillermo Barrero, a cook in a Brooklyn coffee shop fired after seven years because he had to be rushed to the hospital, put it this way: "This is the 21st century, people should not be treated like this."